WTTC calls upon G20 leaders to support tourism recovery

Published on : Thursday, April 23, 2020

The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has called upon G20 tourism ministers so that they can lead a united and coordinated recovery action for the Travel and Tourism sector in the wake of the COVID-19-pandemic.

WTTC is of the opinion that only the G20 holds the power to influence and drive forward a coordinated recovery effort needed to preserve the travel and tourism sector. In order to discuss the present necessities, the extraordinary Tourism Ministers has been called for a meeting that is scheduled to take place on Friday, April 24.

Ahead of the meeting, WTTC praised the G20 leaders for freezing the debt of the world’s poorest countries as a major step towards enabling them to bolster their health systems, save lives and combat the COVID-19 crisis. The forthcoming meeting would focus on ways to face the coronavirus crisis and its crippling effect on the entire travel and tourism sector.

Gloria Guevara, President & CEO, WTTC said in a press statement that the G20 countries have proven record of contribution in tourism recovery which came after the 2008 financial crisis. She mentioned that the recent decisive action to freeze debt further proves that the forum is the best platform and it has the ideal speed and agility required to drive forward the urgent actions needed to save the global travel and tourism sector as well as enable it to survive and thrive.

She proposed the tourism ministers participating in the meeting on behalf of WTTC to completely and jointly commit with the private sector to consider the four key principles required to achieve a faster recovery for tourism. She said that this would ensure the private sector that all measures are being enacted after keeping the traveller at the heart of the actions.

She informed that the action would include a seamless traveller journey with enhanced health security standards enabled through technology, developing joint public-private and G20-wide health protocols as well as ongoing support packages for the tourism sector beyond the lifting of lockdown and into the recovery.

WTTC’s four principles are introduced to ensure swift recovery for the Travel and Tourism sector and the global economy after the pandemic gets over. The first principle talks about a joint public-private coordinated approach across the G20 to re-establish effective operations, remove travel barriers and reopen borders. This would ensure the efficient resumption of flights, movement of people and wide-scale travel essential to re-build the confidence of the sector.

It also asks to enhance the seamless traveller journey experience by combining the latest technology and protocols to increase health standards. It says that the sector should be equipped with components of health, security, hygiene and sustainability with a traveller centric approach.

It urges leaders to work with the private sector and health experts to define global standards for the new normal of travel. The standards are required to be of scientific value and should be easy for businesses of every size across all travel industries to be acquainted with. It also required having qualities that can be implemented across the globe.

Lastly, the principles seek continuation of aid and assistance to the travel and tourism sector during the recovery phase, throughout the entire travel eco-system. It requests for financial support for workers, businesses and for promotion for a prompt recovery. It mentions that realising the domino effect is important so that large and small businesses can all recover and prosper. The four principles will reduce the recovery timeframe of the global economy and reassure travellers when the right time arrives once again to explore and visit the world.